seeth07
Well-known member
Post up your long lasting family traditions from this time of year.
The one I'm going to share to get this started is not going to be the same for our family this year.
Every December, my family makes sausage. Lots of sausage. Typically just under 500#
My grandpa was 100% polish and as long as I can remember, the second Saturday in December was a Christmas party at his house where the family got together to make polish sausage. Ground pork was bought as well as casings from the local butcher shop and my grandpa had his own special recipe already all premixed out so no one would ever know what all goes into it. The recipe was literally written down on a piece of paper and held in his safe (or so I've been told) just in case. At a time sometime before I was born, Italian sausage was also added to the mix. I never heard any grumbling from my grandpa about the Italian being made BUT if you ever mentioned making brats, watch out, he might kill you.
Due to his health and then the selling of their home, the party moved to his niece's place about 5 years ago. Everything was still the same, just a different atmosphere. We still were making about 300# of polish and about 150# of Italian each year. Each year there has been some joking about making brats since it was no longer in the "old Polak's" house and there is clearly a desire to make them from the attendees which includes a lot of family as well as many family friends. His niece's husband is also of heavy German heritage. One year as a joke, he made some brats the night before on his own and when the first batch of polish came out of the stuffer, it headed up to the kitchen to be cooked as normal with tradition and he snuck in a few brats and made sure my grandpa got a brat piece rather than polish. It was all good fun and given the deteriorating state of my grandpa last December, it was great to see him be able to laugh about it. He even joked "when I die, you are going to be making brats aren't you?"
My grandpa did pass away a few months ago - right before our trip to AK in September. I can't imagine what its going to be like making sausage this Saturday without him there. According to my mom, she remembers it starting as soon as they bought their house which would put the first year having this party in 1971. 52 years of keeping family tradition alive and bringing family and friends together to share some good cheer for the holidays. My grandpa was also a very charitable man and one thing that has never changed the entire time is that the cost of the sausage made included a "tax". There has always been an extra $5 (maybe it was less back in 1971, I'm not sure) included on every 10# of sausage you ordered and he took that money raised and gave it to the local food bank so they could buy meals for those in need.
Finally, yes we are making brats this year. The final order amount is 350# of polish, 175# of Italian and a whooping 375# of brats. If ghosts exist, I'm sure my grandpa will be there haunting the entire party and I fully expect broken stuffers, scales, dropped pans of brats, etc.
The one I'm going to share to get this started is not going to be the same for our family this year.
Every December, my family makes sausage. Lots of sausage. Typically just under 500#
My grandpa was 100% polish and as long as I can remember, the second Saturday in December was a Christmas party at his house where the family got together to make polish sausage. Ground pork was bought as well as casings from the local butcher shop and my grandpa had his own special recipe already all premixed out so no one would ever know what all goes into it. The recipe was literally written down on a piece of paper and held in his safe (or so I've been told) just in case. At a time sometime before I was born, Italian sausage was also added to the mix. I never heard any grumbling from my grandpa about the Italian being made BUT if you ever mentioned making brats, watch out, he might kill you.
Due to his health and then the selling of their home, the party moved to his niece's place about 5 years ago. Everything was still the same, just a different atmosphere. We still were making about 300# of polish and about 150# of Italian each year. Each year there has been some joking about making brats since it was no longer in the "old Polak's" house and there is clearly a desire to make them from the attendees which includes a lot of family as well as many family friends. His niece's husband is also of heavy German heritage. One year as a joke, he made some brats the night before on his own and when the first batch of polish came out of the stuffer, it headed up to the kitchen to be cooked as normal with tradition and he snuck in a few brats and made sure my grandpa got a brat piece rather than polish. It was all good fun and given the deteriorating state of my grandpa last December, it was great to see him be able to laugh about it. He even joked "when I die, you are going to be making brats aren't you?"
My grandpa did pass away a few months ago - right before our trip to AK in September. I can't imagine what its going to be like making sausage this Saturday without him there. According to my mom, she remembers it starting as soon as they bought their house which would put the first year having this party in 1971. 52 years of keeping family tradition alive and bringing family and friends together to share some good cheer for the holidays. My grandpa was also a very charitable man and one thing that has never changed the entire time is that the cost of the sausage made included a "tax". There has always been an extra $5 (maybe it was less back in 1971, I'm not sure) included on every 10# of sausage you ordered and he took that money raised and gave it to the local food bank so they could buy meals for those in need.
Finally, yes we are making brats this year. The final order amount is 350# of polish, 175# of Italian and a whooping 375# of brats. If ghosts exist, I'm sure my grandpa will be there haunting the entire party and I fully expect broken stuffers, scales, dropped pans of brats, etc.
